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February 15, 2008

The Demise of Common Sense and Decency: An Argument for a Christian Worldview

No longer can we appeal to common sense or common decency. Anna Nicole Smith, Brittany Spears, and Amy Winehouse have lived (and died in Anna's case) by the belief that you can live any way you want, abusing their bodies with drugs and alcohol and allowing themselves to be exploited by a culture of entertainment and autonomy. But don't think they came to this ideal on their own...they have previous generations of "role models" to thank for their "success." Jane Fonda's use of the "c-word" yesterday probably seems a minuscule issue compared to the entertainment industry's love affair with self-destructive behavior. But I suggest that our culture's relegation of faith to the realm of personal values caused a fragmentation in people's lives such that those who don't abide by a Judeo-Christian worldview found it odd that they were adopting and living by Judeo-Christian morality. So in an effort to be logically consistent, they threw away the remnants of this worldview and are seeking to live out the most godless worldview possible. The intellectual honesty of this is shocking, but it does make it easier to see what's missing from people's lives and understand why they do the things they do. Is there any recovery from where we find our culture?

Just like the absence of philosophy in the public schools, the evangelical church needs to do more than spoon feed their people...they need to be taught to think logically about their faith, the world they live in, and the issues they face. Being a Christian necessitates a change, not just in eternal perspective, but in everyday living. If we want to influence the world for Christ then we need to make sure that our churches are producing people of influence, not just people with a claim to heaven.